It finally had to.I understood that it wouldn’t be easy, it would be very hard; I’d need to resist the habit I had developed long ago – with conviction. I’d have to be impolite, an inconvenience, and...
As if violence could make light. Maybe violence could make light.
I had feared this end, wondered where I would go from it, from the moment I first stepped on this footpath in the desert. But I found I was not afraid of reaching it now. I was happy. I hadn't found e...
For all my life, I had been passive when faced with dangers. I was stunned as I swam to find that I had, for the first time in my history, asserted myself and been truly heard—respected. It felt monum...
For this entire walk, my desire had ashamed me, as if my wanting to be kissed that night mitigated the fault of Junior's sudden deafness. I'd been given stacks of reasons to blame myself for an act of...
You don’t need extra food, extra water, extra clothing for extra warmth – anything extra. You don’t need soap or deodorant. Everything you carry you should need daily.
I didn’t know if I was brave or reckless.
I'd crossed a border—Speaking openly, exposing the weak girl I'd been, I was no longer her.
The way to self-love and admiration is to behave like someone whom you love and admire.
I no longer needed to peel myself of my skin, or to hide. To Dash the colorless ephemeral things that existed just beneath my surface were as vivid as the beauty marks he traced on my cheek.
I was promising myself strength.I had to write it, say it, make the effort and fake it before I actually believed I could do it.
I realized that the most empowering important thing was actually simply taking care of myself.
On this walk I'd had so much time and space to actually figure out who I was without my mother's influence. I understood now: the things that my mother had found made her happy were not the same as th...
I’d believed I needed to be steady in myself before I could function with others—but surviving alone no longer felt like a good way either.
The bravest thing I ever did was leave there. The next bravest thing I did was come back, to make myself heard.
There was so little I wanted to carry. Packing my backpack took me all of four minutes
I was passive by nature. I had always been. Arguing felt unnatural and uncomfortable. I was always agreeing even when I didn’t really, instinctively looking for ways to forfeit power, to become more d...
Water was liquid silver, water was gold. It was clarity—a sacred thing. Drinking was no longer something to take for granted. I’d never needed to consider water before.
Beneath hot sun, desert roses bloomed. Under cold moon, I still refused to.
